MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

8/9 Minor League report

Chris Rusin threw seven shutout innings and Bryan LaHair hit his 30th home run to lead Iowa to an 8-0 win over Sacramento on Monday. Rusin struck out 11 and is 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA. LaHair had two hits, including his league-leading homer, and now has 81 RBIs. Lou Montanez and Chris Robinson each had three hits, and Brett Jackson had two hits and one RBIs.

Tennessee’s game was postponed by rain, and the Smokies will play a doubleheader Tuesday against Huntsville.

Jeffrey Antigua gave up one run on four hits over 6 1/3 innings in Daytona’s 2-1, 10-innin loss to Clearwater. Antigua is 2-1 with a 2.51 ERA. He struck out eight. Abner Abreu had three hits, including a triple.

Frank Del Valle gave up one run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings in Peoria’s 8-2 win over Cedar Rapids. The Chiefs now are 7-1 in August. Richard Jones hit his 20th home run and drove in three runs. Arismendy Alcantara had three hits and two RBIs.

Ben Wells gave up three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings in Boise’s 3-2 loss to Tri-City. Rafael Lopez had two hits. Kyler Burke gave up one hit over 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.

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